Therapeutic Play

The use of play activities, games, toys, or interactive technology as a medium for achieving therapeutic or rehabilitative goals in children. Unlike recreational play, therapeutic play is structured or guided by a therapist to target specific objectives such as exercising muscles or joints (physical therapy), developing social and communication skills (developmental therapy), or processing emotions and experiences (psychological therapy). In assistive technology, therapeutic play often involves adaptive games, robots, or interactive systems designed to make repetitive therapy exercises engaging and motivating for children, leveraging their natural inclination to play as a driver for therapeutic compliance and progress.